Little Kelly, Big World: Tivoli

Today, thanks to the wonderful suggestion of my Aunt Lynda, I hopped on a bus out of Rome and wound my way up to Tivoli to explore Villa D'Este and Villa Adriana. The sun was strong, the sky was clear, and it was perfect get-away time.

Villa D'Este is a beautiful manor sitting on a steeply sloping hillside which allowed for magnificent fountains to be built by Cardinal D'Este in the 16th century. The Italians (and the French, but who cares about them) have a term for fountains, giochi d'acqua, which literally translated means 'water games', which is exactly how it felt to walk around the gardens of Villa D'Este. Water follows you from the grand terraces of the manor and cascades down the hill, pooling here, spurting up through a fountain there, running along paths and racing you through the garden. Almost every staircase has water running in a cascade down their elaborate banisters, and at one end is a waterfall. The fountains range from a grand fountain over the waterfall to hidden tributes to Roman Gods and Goddesses tucked away between hedges. At the far side of the Villa is a sweeping view of the countryside, as unchanged from the time the Villa was built as it can possibly be. My friends and I ate a picnic lunch at the base of one series of calm pools. I could have stayed there forever, but Tivoli had another grand attraction, and so when the afternoon started to move on we packed up and headed out for Villa Adriana, or Hadrian's Villa.

Emperor Hadrian was the emperor of Rome from 117 to 138 AD,

when he died at the age of 62, pretty impressive for an ancie

nt Roman. While he was emperor he built up a court in Tivoli, finding Rome too busy for his liking. What probably started our as a country getaway quickly evolved into a sprawling Villa, and eventually he moved his entire court there. The Villa was enormous, and when too became too busy for Hadrian, he constructed the 'Teatro Marittimo'. The Teatro is an island within the Villa, where supposedly Hadrian had a drawbridge he could pull up when he was in a bad mood. Hadrian's get-away from his get-away reminded me quite a bit of my own motives for

being in Tivoli today. Rome is exhausting in a wonderful way, a way that merits a trip to the country side to cool off.

What is left of Hadrian's Villa today is beautiful ruins, as impressive in what has managed to remain standing as it once must have been in all it's glory. We walked around the ruins through the late afternoon, with sunlight pouring through the open archways and ancient windows. Another place I could have stayed in for hours, had the sun not been setting. We didn't even see the entire Villa, but all that means for me is the next time I need a Hadrian-esqu escape I know where I'll be heading.

I took more pictures today than I have since I've arrived in Rome, so choosing what to post was hard, but here is a selection:

Hadrian's